Emmanuelle Arsan

Marayat Rollet-Andriane formerly Marayat Krasaesin (Thai: มารยาท กระแสสินธุ์) or her birthname Marayat Bibidh (Thai: มารยาท พิพิธ; rtgs: Marayat Phiphit; born 19 January 1932 – 12 June 2005), known by the pen name Emmanuelle Arsan, was a French novelist of Eurasian origin, best known for the novel featuring the fictional character Emmanuelle, a woman who sets out on a voyage of sexual self-discovery under varying circumstances. However, it was later claimed that the real author of the book was her husband, Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane.

Early life

Arsan was born Marayat Bibidh on 19 January 1932 in Bangkok, Thailand, into an aristocratic Siamese family closely connected to the royal family. Marayat's family home was in the affluent Ekkamai District of the Thai capital, where she reportedly discovered her sexuality in the company of her little sister Vasana.

After attending primary school in Thailand, Marayat was sent by her parents to Switzerland to continue her studies at the extremely selective Institut Le Rosey boarding school, located in Rolle, Canton of Vaud. The school offered a bilingual English-French education to the offspring of the international elite. It was at a ball there in 1948, that the 16-year-old Marayat first met her future husband, the 30-year-old French diplomat Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane. Although it was love at first sight, they did not marry until 1956, then settling in Thailand, where Louis-Jacques was given a diplomatic posting at the UNESCO mission in Bangkok.

Emmanuelle

Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French soft porn erotic movies based on a character created by Emmanuelle Arsan in the novel Emmanuelle (1959).

Character history

Emmanuelle appeared as the nom de plume of Marayat Rollet-Andriane, a French-Thai actress born in the 1930s in Bangkok. Her 1957 book The Joys of a Woman detailed the sexual exploits of Emmanuelle, the "bored housewife" of a French diplomat. Rollet-Andriane's book caused a sensation in France and was banned.

The producer of another Arsan/Rollet-Andriane film Laure, Ovidio Assonitis, claimed that all books published under the nom-de-plume Emmanuelle Arsan were written by her husband Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane rather than by Marayat .

Films

The first Emmanuelle film was the 1974 French theatrical feature Emmanuelle starring Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel (1952–2012) in the title role. She came to be the actress best identified with the role. This film pushed the boundaries of what was then acceptable on screen, with sex scenes, skinny-dipping, masturbation, the "Mile High Club", rape, and a scene in which a dancer lights a cigarette and puffs it with her vagina. This film was created and directed by French director Just Jaeckin.

Emmanuelle (film)

Emmanuelle is a 1974 French softcore pornography film directed by Just Jaeckin. The film's story is based on the novel Emmanuelle. The film stars Sylvia Kristel in the title role about a woman who takes a trip to Bangkok to enhance her sexual experience. The film was former photographer Just Jaeckin's debut feature film and was shot on location in Thailand and in France between 1973 and 1974.

Emmanuelle was received negatively by critics on its initial release and with a more mixed reception years later. On its initial release in France it was one of the highest grossing French films. The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures in the United States making it the first X-rated film released by the company. The film was popular in Europe, the United States and Asia and was followed-up in 1975 with Emmanuelle, The Joys of a Woman. Several other films influenced by Emmanuelle were released including the Italian series Black Emanuelle.

Plot

Emmanuelle (video game)

Emmanuelle is an erotic graphical adventure game from Coktel Vision, originally released in 1989 for Amiga, Atari ST, and IBM PC (DOS). The game was developed by Muriel Tramis, who is perhaps better remembered from her games in the Gobliiins series. The game is considered to slightly erotic, but not pornographic.

Story

The plot of Emmanuelle is loosely inspired by Marayat Rollet-Andriane (Better known as Emmanuelle Arsan)'s Emmanuelle books, as adapted by Muriel Tramis. The character Emmanuelle in the game is a wife of French business man whose job requires constant travelling, thus leaving his wife unfulfilled. Emmanuelle has taken a lover, Marc, but later suffers pangs of conscience, because she still loves her husband. Emmanuelle travels to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, to escape him, but is followed by Marc. The aim of the game is to augment Marc's erotic potential so he can seduce Emmanuelle again.

The player's 'erotic potential' is increased by following the three laws of eroticism: law of numbers (seduce as much ladies as you can), law of asymmetry (try to seduce an odd number of ladies) and a law of surprise (seduce preferably concealed/masked ladies). Furthermore, the player should find three erotique statuettes. There's not any hardcore scenes present in the game, but Marc might catch Emmanuelle disrobing while looking through a certain keyhole, although more often he will see only an old gentleman washing his feet.